Whispers in the Dark
by ThisCatalyst'sPen
Summary: An innocent game soon becomes a fight for the turtles' lives...


**Summary:** An innocent game on Halloween becomes a fight for the turtles' lives…

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the turtles. All rights belong to their respective owners.

* * *

_...Whispers in the Dark..._

* * *

_No  
You'll never be alone  
When darkness comes I'll light the night with stars  
Hear the whispers in the dark  
~Whispers in the dark, Skillet_

* * *

Michelangelo jumped around the lair with unbridled enthusiasm, the sugar from the candy sweets he had just eaten coursing through his veins and providing him with bouncing energy, for the time being.

Raphael sighed in annoyance as Mikey jumped over the head of the couch, barely missing Raph's head in the progress. Raphael watched his over-energetic little brother with narrowed eyes and obvious impatience. It was Halloween, which meant it was the only day of the year where the turtles could walk about freely with the rest of the world without being either shot or hunted down.

They had just returned from their annual 'trick or treating' out on the surface, and now, settling back down in the sewers for the duration of the night, Raphael found out just how much he hated Halloween. In his opinion, Mikey was to energetic most of the time, and that was without the added kick of sickly sweet sugar surging through his veins.

Raphael made a mental note to hide the rest of Mikey's Halloween candy.

In the small space they called their kitchen, Leonardo watched his youngest brother with calm eyes, a small smile tugging the corners of his mouth into a soft smile. Beside him, Donatello took a long sip of his freshly made coffee, as he watched his sibling run rampant through the lair.

"Mikey, how much candy have you had tonight?" Leo asked his brother with a slight frown at the haphazardly tossed plastic pumpkin container Michelangelo had used to stash his candy in.

Mikey paused from where he was currently hanging upside on the banister of the stairs, pursing his lips in thought. "Not a lot, Leo," he said finally, letting his arms dangle limply as he continued to hang upside down. "There's still like, half left."

Leo quipped, an eye-ridge at the small amount of candy lift in Mikey's 'trick or treat bag'. "Uh-huh."

"Hey Raph," Mikey said suddenly, twisting around and dropping to the ground beside the couch Raphael was comfortably sitting on.

"What da' ya' want, Mikey?" Raphael sighed, glaring in annoyance up at his youngest brother.

"It's still early, let's play a Halloween game," Mikey said, baby blue eyes shining with glee.

"Or," Raphael growled, "You could just leave me alone."

"Come on," Mikey whined. "It's just one little game. Besides, if you play I'll give you the rest of my candy."

Raphael shared a quick glance with his brothers before sighing and getting slowly to his feet. "Fine," he growled. "Anythin' ta' get ya' away from tha' rest of yer' candy."

"Alright!" Mikey whooped, fist pumping the air in triumph.

"Settle down, chuckle-head," Raph sighed, already cringing at the numerous possibilities that he would have to endure in order to keep Mikey entertained. "What da' ya' want ta' play?"

"I want to play," Mikey said slowly, an evil smile curling his lips into a wicked grin, "Bloody Mary."

"Bloody who?"

"Bloody Mary," Mikey sighed in obvious exasperation. "Have you never heard of the legend?"

"What legend?" Raphael asked, getting more and more confused.

"Never mind," Mikey said, obviously too keen to start the game then tell Raphael about the legend. "All you have to do is walk into the bathroom, turn the lights off, and say 'Bloody Mary' three times whilst facing the mirror," Mikey explained patiently.

"This has ta' be tha' stupidest thing I've ever heard," Raphael grumbled, heading towards the bathroom across the hall.

"I'll be right outside waiting," Mikey smiled, leaning against the wall and folding his arms across his plastron.

"Whatever," Raphael growled, walking into the bathroom and closing the door firmly behind him.

Facing the stained mirror, Raphael reached out and flicked off the light switch. The room was instantly plunged into darkness, making Raphael scowl. "This is stupid," Raphael grumbled.

"I'm waiting, Raph," Mikey's voice sing-song from outside the door.

"Okay, okay," Raphael sighed in defeat. Turning his attention back to the mirror, Raphael began the chant. "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary…" Raphael waited, unsure of what he was supposed to do now.

A shiver ran down the back of his neck, and Raphael became aware of how cold the room had suddenly become. "What tha' hell?" He muttered, trying to look around the dark room for the source of the sudden chill.

That's when Raphael felt like someone was watching him. Stiffening, he turned his head from side to side, unable to see anything in the darkness. Something brushed against his arm, and Raphael felt someone, or some_thing, _breathing on the back of his neck.

Panicking, Raphael fumbled his way to the door grabbed the handle, and ripped the door open.

"Boo!" Michelangelo shouted, suddenly jumping in front of Raph.

"Ah!" Raphael grunted in response, his fist automatically swinging out to punch Mikey in the face.

"Ow!" Mikey whined, rubbing his sore beak, "what was that for?"

"Well you shouldn't have jumped out at me," Raphael growled angrily.

"Did I scare you, Raphie?" Mikey asked with a laugh, baby blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

"_No_," Raphael hissed, "you just _surprised _me is all."

"Sure..." Mikey replied with a teasing smile and an eye roll. "Whatever you say Raphie."

Raphael growled low in his throat, stalking past a smug Michelangelo and snatching his bucket of leftover candy up from the ground, before heading to his room.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mikey cried eyes going wide as he watched Raph pick up his candy.

Raph paused in the darkened doorway of his room, turning his head over his shoulder to grin at Mikey. "You said that if I played tha' game, I got tha' rest of yer' candy."

"But-"

"Goodnight, Mikey," Raphael smiled, closing his bedroom door behind him and leaving his youngest brother standing there a gaping mouth.

* * *

Raphael woke up in the middle of the night to the feeling of something on his bed. Groaning and eyes still bleary with sleep, Raphael blinked in the familiar darkness of his room, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light and for his brain to fully wake up.

He shifted in his hammock, unsure of why he had woken up in the first place. And that's when he heard the laboured breathing. Muscles tensing and body going rigid and still, Raphael froze as the unmistakable sound of someone breathing, very close by, filled his ears. He shifted again, thinking that Mikey had snuck into his room to sleep with him after having nightmares from all the horror movies he watched. Feeling a weight at the end of his bed, Raphael sat up and was about to berate Mikey when his eyes met not his brother's sky blue eyes, but a pair of very pale, very grey eyes, staring at him in the darkness.

"Holy shit!" Raphael cried out in shock, moving backwards quickly in his hammock as his brain finally processed what he was seeing.

There, at the end of his bed, was a young girl, no older than him, dressed in a ragged, blood-soaked dress that hugged her pale, corpse-like skin. Long raven black hair hung messily over her face, and blood seeped from the corners of her eyes, streaming down her cheeks in crimson tears. Her mouth opened in a silent, grotesque scream as she moved forward on his bed, reaching out a mangled, pale hand towards him.

Raphael froze with horror, unsure if what he was seeing was actually real or not. He made his mind up however, when the girl moved faster than a striking cobra and bit him on the arm.

Raphael cried out in pain as white hot agony blazed through his arm, feeling like thousands of pins and needles, making his arm numb. Yanking his arm away, Raphael was only vagley aware of the blood running down his arm as he leapt to his feet and dashed for the door, ripping it open with enough force to rip it cleanly off its hinges. Not looking back, Raphael ran out into the hallway and promptly ran right into Leo.

"Whoa, Raph, watch where you're going," Leo grumbled, rubbing his sore head and getting slowly to his feet. "What's gotten into you?"

"There's a-a thing in my room! I think it could be a ghost!" Raphael panted as he pushed himself up onto shaking legs.

Leo stared at him incredulously, a small smile twitching his lips before he laughed. "A ghost? Come on Raph. I think you've been watching too many spooky movies with Mikey."

"I ain't lyin'!" Raphael yelled. "Look what it did ta' me!" Raphael added, thrusting his still bleeding arm under Leo's face.

"Raph, what happened?" Leo asked taking his brother's arm gently in his hands as his face creased with worry. "Did you cut yourself on your sai?"

"No damn it, it's a bite wound!" Raphael growled in frustration, yanking his arm out of Leo's prying hands. "Just look at it Leo!"

Leo frowned as he studied Raph's injury further, seeing the puncture holes under the stream of blood that painted his emerald skin crimson.

"See Leo, it's a friggen' bite wound! And I sure as hell didn't bite myself. I'm tellin' ya', there's somethin' in there," Raphael said, jerking his head in the direction of his room.

Leo pushed past Raph and opened the door to his room, slowly unsheathing his katanna and poking his head into the room, eyes searching the dark shadows that splashed each wall. Stepping back, Leo closed the door and turned to face Raph, worry and obvious concern creasing his brow.

"I don't know what to tell you, Raph," Leo said with a shrug, "there's nothing in there."

"Bullshit," Raphael growled, his hands clenching in anger. "I know what I saw damn it!"

"Raph, I believe you," Leo said, trying to calm his hot-headed brother. "Let's get the others, we'll sort this out."

"Okay," Raph said, letting out a deep breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Okay."

On shaking legs, Raphael followed Leo down the darkened hallway, casting nervous glances over his shoulder at his closed bedroom door, a feeling of foreboding settling deep within his chest.

They hadn't made it a few steps down the stairs to the lower level when they crashed into Don.

"Leo, Raph, what's going on?" Donnie asked, looking from on to the other in confusion, his brow furrowed with worry.

"Raphael saw something," Leo said, speaking up first.

"Saw something? What do you mean?" Donnie asked, clearly confused.

"I don't know," Raphael admitted, starting to feel stupid. If it wasn't for the still bleeding bite wound on his arm, he would have believed that he had just had a nightmare. "I woke up an' some…some dead chick was sittin' on tha' end of my bed. She bit me,"

Raph held out his arm to show Donnie that he wasn't joking.

Don took a cautious step forward, examining the wound as best he could.

"There's not enough light up here. Come into my lab,"

"But that _thing _is still around here somewhere!" Raphael protested.

"And we'll be safe in my lab," Don said soothingly, turning to head back down the stairs.

"Wait, what about Mikey? We can't leave 'im up here alone," Raphael cut in, remembering his younger brother was a few metres away, asleep and oblivious.

"I saw him head into the bathroom a minute ago," Don said. "I don't think he's back in his room yet."

"Don, you take Raph to the lab and clean him up, I'll wait for Mikey. We'll meet you in there."

Don led Raphael down the stairs, taking him into his lab. Switching on the lights, Don indicated for Raph to take a seat on what he daubed as their 'emergency chair.'

Taking a seat, Raphael held out his arm for Don to inspect.

"Well, it's not too deep," Don said after a moment of examining the wound. "But it will need stitches, hang on, I'll get some antiseptic."

Raphael forced himself to relax as Don returned with some antiseptic and his trusty needle and thread. He bit his lip as he felt the antiseptic burn the open wound, which was quickly followed by the small needle piercing his skin.

"So what exactly attacked you?" Don asked, trying to take his brother's mind off the sensation of closing up his wound.

"I got no idea," Raphael said, turning his head to the side so he didn't have to watch. "It looked…human. Damn Donnie, it was a girl, no older than us, except she looked, well, dead. She was jus' sittin' there when I woke up, staring at me and grinnin' and shit. Next thing I knew she bit me. I hightailed it out of there and ran inta' Leo, but he said he saw nothin' when he poked his head in my room."

Don was silent as he worked, processing this information carefully.

"Ya' do believe me, don't ya' Donnie?" Raphael asked quietly.

"Well, I don't believe that you bit yourself," Don said, finishing the final stitch, before he gently started to wrap the arm in a soft bandage.

Raphael was about to say something when a fierce pain shot up his arm. "Shit!"

"Raph, what's wrong?" Don asked, his brown eyes shining with worry.

"My arm," Raphael hissed between clenched teeth, "it fucking hurts!"

Leo ran into the room, breathless and eyes wide with panic.

Raphael leapt to his feet immediately, pain forgotten as he remembered about Mikey. "Leo, what's wrong? Where's Mikey?"

"I don't know," Leo panted, forcing himself to take deep, even breaths. "I was waiting outside the bathroom, and when he didn't come out I went up to his room to see if he was in there. But he wasn't, so I went back to the bathroom and looked in. He wasn't in there either. I called his name and searched everywhere for him but I can't find him!"

"Shit!" Raphael cursed violently. "Ya' mean ta' tell me he's been out there alone with this...this _thing _this whole time?"

"We have to find him," Don said, his face set in grim determination.

"We'll split up," Leo said, "It'll be quicker."

The others nodded, not bringing up the fact that it would also be easier for this _spirit _to find them. But they couldn't worry about it now, they had to find Mikey.

Raphael headed towards the kitchen, Leo heading upstairs whilst Donnie went to check the tunnels closest to home.

"Mikey! Mikey, where are ya'?" Raphael called, hearing nothing in return but his frantic heartbeat.

He hadn't been searching for more than two minutes when all the lights in the lair suddenly flickered before dimming completely, plunging the whole lair into impenetrable darkness. Raphael froze, muscles tensing as he listened for a sound, or a sign, that Mikey was nearby.

"Mikey?" He whispered, a sudden feeling in his gut telling him it wasn't a good idea to make a lot of noise.

Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, Raphael took a few cautious steps forward, carefully making his way out of the kitchen and into the living area. That's when he heard it.

Straining to find the source of the sound, Raphael realized with a start that the sound was someone singing…like _Mikey _singing.

"Mikey?"

"_Ring-a-ring a rosie, a pocketful of posies, a tissue, a tissue, we all fall down…"_

Raphael shivered, his blood going cold. Mikey didn't sound like himself…something was wrong.

The singing sounded like it was coming from the dojo. As quietly as he could, Raphael slowly made his way to the dojo, having to feel his way through the living room and around the furniture.

Raphael froze just as he reached the dojo doors, that same feeling of foreboding tingling down his spine. The lair was eerily silent. The singing had stopped.

Cursing himself for leaving his weapons in his room, Raphael took a deep breath before slowly opening the door and stepping into the darkened room.

"Mikey?"

He could just make out the familiar outline of Mikey, hunched over in the centre of the room, an old blanket draped over his shoulders, his head bowed and his mouth parted slightly.

"Mikey, Mikey, are you okay bro?" Raphael whispered, taking a cautious step towards his brother.

Mikey didn't respond.

"Mikey…?"

Slowly reaching out, Raphael touched his brother lightly on the shoulder.

Mikey screamed, whirling around and jumping to his feet, a hand clutching at his speeding heart.

Raphael jumped back in shock, a startled scream escaping his lips.

"Raphie?" Mikey blinked, looking like he had just woken up from a trance. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Raphael whispered, fear clutching his heart. "I don't know…"

* * *

Donnie, Mikey and Leo were already sitting at the kitchen table when Raphael stumbled in the next morning. None of them knew what had happened last night, and after finding Mikey, they searched around the lair together, top to bottom, but found no sign of the thing that had bitten Raph.

Mikey had been confused and disoriented. He had said the last thing he remembered was going into the bathroom and seeing something reflected in the mirror behind him.

Donnie thought Mikey might have been possessed, and when Raph touched him, for some reason the spirit just…vanished.

"Hey," Don greeted when Raph stumbled in, looking up from his breakfast. "Mikey made scrambled eggs."

Raph grunted and stumbled over to the fridge. Ever since last night he had started to feel funny. His head pounded like he had a migraine and he felt like he was going to be sick. His throat was roar, and sweat beaded his slightly sickly grey skin. His arm was burning like something fierce, and felt like it had its own heartbeat.

The room seemed too bright, and the pounding of his brothers' hearts echoed loudly in his ears. The smell of blood filled his senses and his stomach growled in hunger.

Looking at his brothers over the fridge, Raphael felt his arm burn with more intensity, and the feeling of hunger inside of him grow. Then, a slow, wicked smile curved his lips. Looking down, Raphael slowly pulled his sai from his belt, admiring the way it glittered in the light.

Raphael closed the fridge and took a slow, threatening step towards his family.

Raphael smiled. This was going to be as sweet as…well, as sweet as Halloween candy…

_-End-_

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**_A/n:_ **I know it's rushed and porbably overflowing with mistakes, but I just wanted to get it finished. Its been sitting in my files for almost two months now :/


End file.
